Animal Method: Monster Peak Program

This is a guest post written by Robert Mori from the Muscle and Brawn forums.

Coach Poletaev ran the Russian weight lifting program from 1979 to 1984 and racked in 314 medals from just World Championships.

In 10 years of coaching, he only missed a total of two world championships; the first in 1982 and the second in 1988.

His programing was brutal intense because they trained everyday for up to 5 hours.

On average they are trained constantly at 70% of their max. Only one day a week they would use 50% of their max to recover from the beating they are taking.

Animal Method: Monster Peak Program

I used the basics of Poletaev’s routine to write this one, but the red flag is training every day.Since it doesn’t make sense for most people to train upwards of 3 or more hours a day, every single day, I’ve adapted this into a 4 day training split.This 12 week peaking program utilizes linear progression and is designed to help you crush your personal records.Weekly Breakdown

Here is the breakdown of what you will expect in this 12 week peaking program:

• Week 1: Hypertrophy
• Week 2: Hypertrophy
• Week 3: Strength
• Week 4: Strength
• Week 5: Strength
• Week 6: Strength
• Week 7: Strength
• Week 8: Strength and Power
• Week 9: Strength and Power
• Week 10: Strength and Power
• Week 11: Peak Week
• Week 12: Peak Week

The first two weeks are hypertrophy work, weeks 3-7 are basic strength building weeks, weeks 8-10 are strength and power weeks, and week 11 and 12 are your peak weeks.

Sample Training Schedule

• Sunday – Upper Body
• Monday – Lower Body
• Tuesday – Upper Body
• Wednesday – Off
• Thursday – Lower Body
• Friday – Off
• Saturday – Off

For Shoulder day our assistance work will be with back work.

Bench day we will hit biceps and triceps.

Lower body will be broken up with hamstrings on deadlift days and quad work will be done on squat day.

Exercise Breakdown

• Day 1: Strict shoulder press
• Day 2: Dead Lift
• Day 3: Bench
• Day 4: Squat

Week 1 Day 1

Shoulder Press:

• Bar x 10
• 35% x 5
• 50% x 3
• 60% x 1
• 5 sets x 3 reps at 70%

Barbell Row:

• 4 sets x 10 reps

Side Lateral:

• 4 sets x 10 reps

Lat Pull Down:

• 4 sets x 10 reps

Week 1 Day 2

Dead Lift:

• Bar x 10 at 45% x 5
• 60% x 3
• 5 sets x 3 reps at 75%

Pull Through:

• 4 sets x 10 reps

Leg Curls:

• 4 sets x 10 reps

Week 1 Day 3

Bench:

• Bar x 10
• 45% x 5
• 60% x 3
• 6 sets x 5 reps at 75%

Hammer Curls:

• 4 sets x 10 reps

Tricep Pull Downs:

• 4 sets x 10 reps

EZ Curls:

• 4 sets x 10 reps

Overhead Extensions:

• 4 sets x 10 reps

Week 1 Day 4

Squat:

• Bar x 10
• 45% x 5
• 60% x 3
• 5 sets x 5 reps at 75%

Leg Press:

• 4 sets x 10 reps

Leg Curls:

• 4 sets x 10 reps

Week 2

Working Sets: 5 sets x 4 reps at 70%

Assistance Work: 4 sets x 10 reps

Week 3

Working Sets: 6 sets x 3 reps at 80%

Assistance Work: 4 sets x 10 reps

Week 4

Working Sets: 5 sets x 5 reps at 65%

Assistance Work: 4 sets x 10 reps

Week 5

Working Sets: 5 sets x 4 reps at 75%

Assistance Work:

• 2 sets x 10 reps
• 2 sets x 5 reps

Week 6

Working Sets: 80%@ 6 sets x 3 reps

Assistance Work: 2 sets x 10 reps

Week 7

Working Sets: 6 sets x 2 reps at 90%

Assistance Work:

• 1 set x 10 reps
• 1 set x 5 reps

Week 8

Working Sets: 50%@ 5 sets x 5 reps

Assistance Work: Top set: 1 set x 10 reps

Week 9

Working Sets: 1RM @ 3 sets x 1 rep

Assistance Work: 1 set x 5 reps

Week 10

Working Sets: 5 sets x 3 reps at 65%

Assistance Work: 3 sets x 5 reps

Week 11

Working Sets: 6 sets x 1 rep at 70%

Assistance Work: NO ASSISTANCE

Week 12

Meet DAY!!!!!!!

We start tapering off assistance work the closer we get to our meet and also the heavier the work load gets.

This peaking technique will help us to smash our meet and personal record goals.

Many powerlifters make the mistake in weeks 7 to 11 by not listening to their body.

If you feel your nervous system is starting to reach the breaking point where you start to feel fatigued, it is okay to take a week off or to drop to 50% work to rest a week.

This training cycle is tough and will push you to your limits. It is not recommended for beginner powerlifters to run.